Business continuity trends and challenges 2020: interim survey results
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- Published: Friday, 03 January 2020 08:58
For the past six years Continuity Central has conducted an online survey asking business continuity professionals about their expectations for the year ahead. We are repeating the survey again and the interim results are now available. They are as follows...
Demographics
So far, the majority of respondents (79.2 percent) are from business continuity professionals operating in large organizations. 14.6 percent are from medium sized and 6.2 percent are from small sized organizations. The top responding country so far is the United States, where 47.9 percent of respondents are located; followed by the UK (14.6 percent) and Australia (10.4 percent).
Interim results
The interim results from each question are as follows:
What level of changes do you expect to see in the way your organization manages business continuity during 2020?
Respondents so far indicate that the majority (64.6 percent) of business continuity professionals expect only to see relatively small changes to the way their organization manages business continuity during 2020. However, a significant 33.33 percent of respondents are anticipating large changes. Only 2.1 percent are expecting to see no changes. The final survey results will provide a breakdown of the actual changes that respondents are expecting and an analysis of the trends in this area.
What is the biggest change you expect to see in business continuity practices or strategies within your organization during 2020?
The top trends so far in this area are:
- 18 percent of respondents expect their organization to implement new business continuity software during 2020;
- 11.4 percent will be making major revisions to BCM strategies and/or business continuity plans;
- 10 percent will be making a major revision to IT DR or ICT continuity strategies;
- 9 percent expect their organization to conduct more business continuity tests and exercises during 2020;
- 7 percent will be giving more attention to third party dependencies and business continuity in the supply chain.
What is the biggest challenge that may hold back business continuity developments within your organization during 2020?
Four major themes have emerged so far. These are
- Lack of budget: 22.75 percent of respondents so far state that this is a key challenge;
- High levels of organizational change: 14 percent of respondents expect their business continuity activities to be impacted by organizational changes;
- Lack of organizational commitment, buy-in and support from top management: 13.6 percent
- Lack of resources: 11.4 percent say that lack of resources, including human resources is a key issue.
Business continuity spending
Respondents were asked to indicate how business continuity spending in their organization will change in 2020. So far, the results are:
- Spending will be much higher in 2020 compared to 2019: 6.3 percent
- Spending will be higher in 2020 compared to 2019: 29.2 percent
- 2020 spending will be the same as 2019: 52 percent
- 2020 spending will be lower than 2019: 10.4 percent
- 2020 spending will be much lower than 2019: 2.1 percent.
Business continuity recruitment
Respondents were asked how the size of the business continuity team in their organization will change in 2020. So far, the results are:
- Grow (we will recruit new team members): 27 percent
- Stay the same: 69 percent
- Shrink (we will reduce the number of team members): 4 percent.
Take part
The survey will remain open until 15th January and we invite all business continuity professionals to take part at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BC-2020
Your participation would be much appreciated!
